What’s not said in either article is that the reporter has had a personal relationship with the person he’s writing about. 2017, years after the Tokyo trolling wars about news reporting that was more about story-telling and promotion, rather than conveying objective facts to the public.

I am really happy that U.S. agents caught yet another Russian screwing around in international matters that affect U.S. citizens. It’s clear from the Trump campaign that the Cold War is on and in effect, and we have to be suspicious about “things Russian” once again. It’s a shame, but it’s consistent with groups and countries that lose to the United States. Seldom are they good losers; generally, they are sore losers. (Including the Confederacy of states in the U.S. south.)

I think it was right for the Japanese police to put Karpeles under investigation, and charge him with the things that they had solid evidence that he did. I was reassured that the government of Japan does NOT look the other way when the crime is foreigner-on-foreigner. It was one of the few events that happened in my time away from Japan that gave me confidence that Japan does not look at foreigners as second-class, and that victimization of foreigners is something of a lesser degree than if it happened to a Japanese.

America is all about the “hero” talk. So this guy, who sets up what amounts to an unregulated securities market in Shibuya, and gets duped by a sleazy, aggressive Russian, is somehow a hero because he realized that cooperating with authorities was the only way he was going to save his ass? Seriously, people are supposed to believe that? “Here, look, I set up this thing that invites criminality, and then, once the crimes actually start occurring, I’m the hero, because I cooperated with the authorities in catching the bigger fish!!” Really? . . . . . . . . Really?

I’m glad they found out who stole the Bitcoins. But I would not blame the Japanese police for fingering Karpeles for potential criminal activity. He set the table.